New York Magazine article about game shows, 1970

[SuperMatch93]

Contains an overview of the game shows that were taping in New York at the time, including the original Sale of the Century.

https://books.google.com/books?id=5eICAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA3&dq=the%20only%20loose%20money%20in%20town&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false

[gromit82]

Thanks for posting the link.

The article includes examples of some of the questions asked on "Jeopardy!" and "The Who, What or Where Game." One of the "Jeopardy!" questions seems unfair in my opinion, and I'm surprised that NBC standards allowed it:

Category: World Geography. "The only country in the world whose name begins and ends with the same consonant."

The first possible answer I thought of was Seychelles, but that wasn't an independent country in 1970. I also thought of Czech Republic, but I knew that didn't become an independent country until the 1990s.

The answer: Tibet. But that wasn't an independent country in 1970, either.

[Matt Ottinger]

Thanks for posting the link.

The article includes examples of some of the questions asked on "Jeopardy!" and "The Who, What or Where Game." One of the "Jeopardy!" questions seems unfair in my opinion, and I'm surprised that NBC standards allowed it:

Category: World Geography. "The only country in the world whose name begins and ends with the same consonant."

The first possible answer I thought of was Seychelles, but that wasn't an independent country in 1970. I also thought of Czech Republic, but I knew that didn't become an independent country until the 1990s.

The answer: Tibet. But that wasn't an independent country in 1970, either.

In the first place, "NBC Standards" wasn't responsible for researching and fact-checking the material.  They're just there to make sure the games are played without cheating. 

Secondly, the rigorous standards that we associate with the current Jeopardy didn't exist back then.  Sure, they wanted to get it right, and the game was as much of an intellectual challenge then as it is now (not dramatically more so, as some critics continue to insist today), but they didn't have fleets of researchers poring over every detail of every clue.  Even some of the accurate material back then would be considered sloppily written by today's stricter rules.  And of course, the 70s writers had access to reference books, but not the web of the wide world at their  fingertips like we do now.

Plus, we don't know how that particular episode played out.  Maybe if a contestant was wronged over the clue, they got to come back and play again.

[Mike Tennant]

The most important thing I learned from these pages: "Flabby girls go skiing alone."

[thomas_meighan]

The Tibet question is just ambiguous enough that I would've rejected it if I had overseen the J! writing back then. "Country" usually refers to independent nations, but not always. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are often referred to as "constituent countries" of the UK, even though none is independent itself. Various disputed territories throughout the world (including Tibet) may be considered countries, or not, based on one's political and cultural beliefs.

Combined with Tibet's complicated history that includes both de facto independence and being part of China, I think the question had too much potential for dispute for inclusion on the program -- but that's only my view.

[Fedya]

The Central African Republic should be correct, since it became independent in 1960 and Bokassa didn't rename it the Central African Empire until 1976.

[calliaume]

The most important thing I learned from these pages: "Flabby girls go skiing alone."

You didn't want to pick up a copy of Schlagers! for two bucks?

[Kevin Prather]

And even with the material being rigorously checked like it is today, things are going to fall through the cracks. I recall a FJ calling for the only country that can be turned into another country by adding two letters besides Austria/Australia. They said the answer was Niger/Nigeria, but nobody on the staff ever considered Mali/Malawi.

[TLEberle]

Maybe they forgot.